Israel's Shin Bet security service said Thursday it had uncovered a vast Hamas network in the West Bank that was planning large-scale attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem.

The Shin Bet said it arrested more than 30 Hamas militants who planned to kidnap Israelis and carry out attacks against Jerusalem's light rail and its largest soccer stadium, among other targets. It said the men were trained and recruited in Jordan and Turkey and that various arms and explosives were recovered.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday accused the Islamist movement Hamas of trying "to destroy" efforts to broker national unity through a series of bomb blasts in Gaza last week.

Hamas quickly hit back, describing the allegations as "lies".

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement said it held Islamist group Hamas responsible for a wave of bomb attacks against the homes of Fatah leaders in Gaza on Friday.

"The Fatah central committee condemns the crimes which took place this morning against its leaders and lays the responsibility for these crimes upon Hamas," senior Fatah official Nasser al-Qidwa told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday legal measures would be taken to prevent Jewish settlers from attacking Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound, having said their presence desecrates the site.

His remarks follow a recent spate of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police, which erupted when Jews were to visit the complex.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Friday called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.

His comments came days after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site but which is also revered by Jews.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of complicity in allowing Jewish "extremists" into Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound as dozens of Palestinian youths protested against Jews visiting the flashpoint holy site ahead of a religious feast.

"Aggression against the blessed al-Aqsa mosque is increasing, led by settlers and extremists, sponsored by the Israeli government," he said in a statement.

The Palestinians are asking the U.N. Security Council to set November 2016 as the deadline for ending the Israeli occupation, according to a draft resolution obtained by Agence France-Presse on Wednesday. 

The draft, circulated to council members, follows Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' address last week to the U.N. General Assembly in which he called for a fast-track to statehood.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza, a state department official said.

The meeting in New York came as leaders converged for the United Nations General Assembly, and a day after Abbas gave a speech at Cooper Union vowing to present a new timetable for peace talks with Israel. 

Hamas' former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniya said on Saturday the militant Islamic Palestinian group would not hold any direct talks with Israel. 

There would be "no direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy," Haniya said in a public address in the Gaza Strip, and called on Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "review" his own strategy of talks with Israel.

The Palestinian leadership is to demand the international community set a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of the territories, a senior official told Agence France-Presse on Monday. 

The move comes as Palestinian and world leaders continue to push for a halt to seven weeks of bloodshed in Gaza, and seek a more permanent end to violence between Israel and the Islamist movement, Hamas.